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Thursday, 7 August 2014

Theo James on Playing FOUR, Acting, Choosing New Roles, & DIVERGENT Challenges

The spring blockbuster “Divergent” arrives on Blu-ray and DVD this week,
bringing the first movie installment based on Veronica Roth’s young
adult book series to home video. Earlier this year, Hero Complex sat down with James to talk about “Divergent,” Four’s particular brand of honor and what’s next:

Hero Complex: I understand that you’re a latecomer to the world of acting?

Theo James: I think it was always kind of around. I was
always one of those annoying, performing little shits. To pretend that I
just fell into it and was like, “Oh my God, whoopsy daisy!” — people
sometimes pretend that, and it annoys me. Everyone’s going to try. It’s
not like it just happens. But basically, I was 18, I finished school, I
vaguely thought about it, but then I didn’t really know how to get into
it. I didn’t know anyone involved in it. I went to university. I went
away for a bit and traveled and kind of was at a crossroads
post-university, and I thought, maybe this is worth a try. So I went to a
drama school. Basically, an ex-girlfriend at the time was auditioning
for these drama schools, and she kind of told me about it and how it
worked, and it went from there. So I kind of started in 2010.

HC: Surely you didn’t anticipate being on an international press tour some four years later for a blockbuster movie?

TJ: It’s funny, you don’t really think about it that way.
‘Cause every stage, every little incremental ladder you climb feels like
a minor victory in itself, so sometimes I think it’s a bit toxic the
way people are hungry for that. Because of the whole mass media thing,
they’re hungry for the biggest thing. But I really think that if you
want to do it for a career, you have to be motivated by more than just
the idea of glamour and the kind of bigger, global things. There are
some great, satisfying things to be gained from doing the smaller things
as well.

HC: What drew you to the role of Four?

TJ: I immediately had an affinity with him. I thought he
represented a kind of male character that you don’t see much these days.
To me he had an old-school Hollywood vibe. I mean those kind of actors
where masculinity isn’t worn by biceps, it’s worn by kind of true
identity. You think of Steve McQueen and Paul
Newman, they had it in abundance, but they didn’t need to jam it down
anyone’s throat. And I felt like he has that, he has this stillness,
this quietness, and also, he has quite an arc that he goes on, which is
interesting. In the book, he’s a kind of aggressive, closed, dark
person, who you know you kind of empathize, but then you’re not really
sure of his intentions. But then he begins to open up when he begins to
fall in love with this girl, Tris, Shai’s character. And as a result, we
understand not only that he’s a bit broken by an abusive father, etc.,
but he’s also someone motivated by nobility and honor and morality and
those kinds of things.

HC: Speaking of Four’s father, it seems rather uncommon
to see male characters as survivors of abuse in the movies. Was that a
factor in how you portrayed him?

TJ: Yes, because I think that is part of his barrier.
Definitely, that plays into his whole character, and I think people that
suffer from abuse, especially men, they can often create such an armor
because they never want to be in that situation again. They never want
to be emasculated like that, they never want to be humiliated like that,
that they kind of go the opposite way, and they create something that
no one can ever get past, and as a result they can be kind of
inaccessible. I think that is definitely a theme in the film, and the
theme of him. He’s so closed because he’s been damaged, and he can’t
trust anyone for various other reasons, that he’s hard to connect with.

HC: It’s also rare to see male heroes who aren’t
antiheroes, but Four is a white hat. He’s a good guy. He wants to save
people’s lives.

TJ: He does, and that’s why I’ve likened him in a way as well to a military honorability. He has a Petraeus
kind of nobility, and also there is that kind of slight Maximus Decimus
Meridius crossover. I read in him someone who is really motivated by
honor. And then on top of that, he’s not exactly Mr. Joe Friendly. If
you think about it, he doesn’t really have any friends in the film. He’s
not seen high-fiving people and snogging babes or anything. He’s a bit
of a lone wolf, which isn’t great, I guess.

HC: What was the most challenging part of working on “Divergent”?

TJ: Sometimes in these big spectacle films, you are in a
big green room, or you’re in the midst of like a fight scene where you
have to fight six different people, and you know, it’s like a dance,
’cause you have to be remembering everything. Or you would be on a
Ferris wheel or wherever you are, and sometimes the challenge is
remembering to bring it back to what the scene is and grounding yourself
in the story. The only reason you’re telling the story is because it’s a
story between two people, and all the other fights and the graphics and
the green screen is just extra. So sometimes that’s hard, and you have
to constantly remind yourself to bring it back to what you’re trying to
say in the story, and what that scene is about, and what the context of
the scene is, and where you’ve been before and where you’re going after.

HC: Where do you see yourself going after the “Divergent” films?

TJ: I think it’s important for me post-this to make really
smart choices and do things that are the opposite of this character,
because I think it’s easy to get pigeonholed. You’ve got to fight as
hard as you can against that, because in terms of the longevity of your
career, if you don’t do that, then you won’t be able to do the things
that you want to do later.

1 comment:

Theo is one of my favorite television actors of all time! I'm really hoping the classes I'm taking at London acting college at methodacting.co.uk will lead me to be as good as he is some day... fat chance, I know, but a girl can dream, right? :)

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